Gayle King has been receiving plaudits from around the world for her calmness during her explosive interview with shamed R&B singer R Kelly and she has spoken out about how she felt sitting so close to Kelly as he vented his anger at the sex abuse charges that had seen him arrested.

Gayle, 64, revealed to TIME that she believed that Kelly was 'bordering on a breakdown' as he broke down in tears, claiming that he was "fighting for his f***ing life", as he fought the charges.

Gayle said that she thought that she had all angles covered as to how Kelly would react but this was a curveball that she wasn't expecting.

The respected interviewer said: "As much as I knew that he wouldn’t come clean about underaged girls. I didn’t think he’d say, 'Well, yeah, Gayle, I have been doing that!' I was pretty much prepared for anything that he was going to say."

Gayle King interviewing R Kelly on CBS's This Morning (Image: CBS)

Gayle King stayed calm (Image: CBS)

What Gayle 'wasn't prepared' for was the "emotional reaction bordering on a breakdown," that the singer gave when she quizzed him about the allegations about him sexually assaulting underage girls, during the explosive interview on CBS This Morning.

She admitted that there would be a moment of 'self-reflection' from Kelly, after he was released on bail, so was surprised when he was so indignant about his innocence.

Gayle said, "it seems difficult to believe what he says," and she was prepared that, "he was probably going to deny that he had done anything wrong."

R Kelly ranted during the interview

R Kelly was restrained as he bellowed over Kelly (Image: Instagram/gayleking)

She thought it was surprising that Kelly did not, "accept responsibility for anything," and that there would be, "some kind of self-reflection."

There have been some select clips released by CBS of the interview, ahead of the full version being aired and despite it looking like Kelly was sounding off for much of their time together, Gayle revealed that for the most part he was speaking calmly.

Gayle revealed: "He was very relaxed, and I also think it’s important to point out that we had an 80-minute conversation, and sure, there were a lot of rants, but there was a lot of coherent and cogent conversation, too.

R Kelly initially answered questions calmly

R Kelly started crying later in the chat (Image: Instagram/gayleking)

"He didn’t spend the whole time ranting and raving. We had a bona fide, genuine conversation. And a nice back-and-forth.

"So it wasn’t all just one big rant."

She did admit thought that it was "extremely unusual" for someone to 'lose it' like Kelly did in certain moments of the interview.

Gayle was determined that Kelly stayed to complete the interview, even as he become "more agitated" and "volatile".

R Kelly showed no remorse for what happened

R Kelly denied all charges against him

She said: "The more he ranted, I was thinking I don’t want him to get up and leave, which he has done in interviews when he gets agitated.

"He was clearly agitated by some of the questions, and I just didn’t want him to leave.

"So I figured the more agitated he got and the more emotional he got and volatile he got, the best thing to do was to sit there and just be still."

To remain the oasis of calm that Gayle was as Kelly lost his cool, she revealed that she "started meditating".

With her temperament being lauded, Gayle said: "So you can also in that moment just say, okay, I’m going to take a moment here. Let him get through whatever this is."